2 The study only included schools with a statistically significant sample size. All
the data incorporated into Payscale's College Salary Report were collected from individuals
who completed the Payscale Salary Survey.

3 Index rankings are computed from five variables: published tuition, percent of student
body whose families are below the US median income, graduation rate, reported median
salary 0-5 years after graduation, and endowment. These variables are mathematically
balanced against live data so that they fall into three weighting tiers: a) tuition
and economic disadvantage at the highest tier (access); b) graduation rate and salary
at the next, half-weight tier (outcome); and c) the endowment at a half again, or
1/4 weight tier (institutional capability). Each weighting tier is thus twice as "sensitive"
as the next in that making realistic changes to the variables at that tier can cause
approximately twice as much movement in the rankings as changes to the next tier's
variables.